Community Development gets a lot of different definitions, the blog title gives you mine. Together with my family, living in central Asia, I work with a NGO in a CD project that works toward objectives of improving water, sanitation, hygiene, infant and maternal health, and agriculture for poor communities. I am not an expert in any of these fields, I'm the guy that trains and supports the national leaders and facilitators of the project, and makes sure that we are actually facilitating change

Friday, March 29, 2013

We are now in our 7th house in this country. 7 times we have simple mud buildings
into homes. We’re starting to get
the hang of it. One of biggest
chores of the process of setting a house up is finding skillful help that can
get things done in some rendition close to what we hope for. Each time there is some job to be done
in our house I have to think through:

What is the local interpretation in how to do
this?

What is the common capacity in actually getting
it done well?

Can I accept the finished result?

If I’m doubtful (which is common), then I think through:

Do I have the tools and materials to do the job
myself?

Do I really want to spend my time doing the job
myself?

If I’m doubtful on these questions as well (which is also
common), then I come to the point of compromise, and work together in some way
with a local man in order to get the job done.

Plumbing is a great example. Most plumbing here is added long after a house is built, so
it sits outside the walls (which sure beats having a leaky pipe within a mud
wall!). A couple times I have
borrowed tools and done plumbing renovations myself, but as we moved into our
house this time I decided I did not want to spend my time changing the pipes so
we could hook up our automatic washer.
So I found a guy named Fize who purportedly worked on plumbing, invited
him into my bathroom, showed him what my problem was, and asked him how he
could solve it. This is one of my
favorite questions, because it invites an open answer that immediately
indicates what kind of projects or solutions the worker is used to
providing. Usually guys will
answer very quickly with their first idea. If that idea involves something drastic like knocking down
walls, or something ridiculous like duct tape and twisty-ties, then I just
smile and thank them for their suggestion (said in the right way, “thank you”
in this language means “NO thank you”).

Usually guys offer their ideas quickly, but when I asked
Fize how he would solve my plumbing problem, he rubbed his chin and pondered it
for several minutes. Finally he
answered, “well, I’ve never done something like this, but I think we could
try…” It didn’t really matter what
he said next, he had already won the bid by showing thoughtfulness and
humility. I actually wasn’t sure
if his idea would work, but I thought he was the right kind of guy to work
with, so I sent him off to the bazaar to buy supplies and bring his tools. When he came back he unloaded a whole
bag full of plumbing fittings, and we started to figure the puzzle out
together. Fize laid the pipes and
fittings out in the way he was thinking, then he looked for my feedback, and
listened when I explained another option.
This is all so unique from the other men I have worked with on repairs
in my home! Not only did he come
with plenty of supplies (as opposed to not quite enough, which is then
sabotaged into a ‘good enough’ solution), he worked together with me, to make
sure we both agreed on the best solution.

If you look at the picture below you’ll see that the pipes
and fittings had to be tightened together in just the right order, otherwise
the turning of one pipe would run into another. We worked slowly, paying attention to the whole process of
steps we were taking to complete the job.
By the time we were done, we had water flowing to the toilet, the
bathroom sink, the cloth diaper sprayer, the shower, the washer, the kitchen
sink, and a tap for buckets. Fize
was pleased that we succeeded, and said, “I didn’t know it would end up like
that, but it works great.” I was
thinking the exact same thing.

I’ve taken the time to tell you about Fize, because I think
he’s a unique guy. Usually trying
to work together and negotiate solutions with guys here is kind of like taking
turns stomping on each other’s toes.
Fize was interested in serving and in learning, and that’s really
unique. Since this plumbing
project, I’ve also had Fize knock down a wall, cement a floor, and fix my
motorcycle’s broken wheel. He’s
done great at every job. I look forward
to working with him more, and getting to know him better. You can pray for this guy when you think
of it, that God would be working in his heart, while I’m working with him in
practical ways.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

We’ve been in the town we call Fize for a month now. I spent all of the first two weeks
setting up our house, and then I started my new job with the Community
Development Project that our NGO runs here. My start with the project was abrupt, because on my first day
I was told that the hand-dug well project in one of the villages was about to
fail. Off to the village I went,
with one of the project driver/facilitators telling me the background story on
the way.

Three months ago the project signed a contract with a local
man to dig a well, by hand, either until he found water or until he reached 45
meters. 3 weeks ago at a depth of
about 35 meters, he said that the hole started to fill in with sand. For 2 frustrating weeks he and his
co-worker struggled to fight the sand, then they gave up and said the well could
not be completed. The well project
contract read that he would not be paid unless he completed the work, but he
argued otherwise. One of our more
technically inclined staff (my driver/facilitator today, I’ll call him Harry) sought
out another well digger and received some advice. Today we were going to try to teach our well digger the
technique that we had learned.

After a 90-minute bumpy mountain road drive, we arrived at
the village. The hole in the ground
outside the village looked abandoned.
We got a few tools out while we waited for the well digger to
appear. He finally showed up,
regretfully, and went right into complaining that the sand could not be
beat. I was surprised that a man
who supposedly was an expert at digging wells by hand had never encountered and
found a way through a challenge like this. Harry my facilitator went to work trying to explain the new
technique to the well digger. His
style and skill as a facilitator was excellent. He could have been tempted to disregard the complaining well
digger and look for another one to finish the job, but instead he poured all
his energy into encouraging and building the understanding of the well digger
we had. I liked Harry’s style, and
I was glad to be there to help.

Now how can I explain to you the technique that we taught
the well digger? In order to keep
digging, he had to have a way to hold the sand back against the walls of the
well shaft. He had tried to make a
perimeter with sheet steel, but it had not worked. So we told him that our new technique was for him to pour a
cement ring (80cm diameter by 50cm height) at the bottom of the well, let it
cure, then resume digging inside that cement ring. As he dug within the cement ring, he would push the cement
ring straight down into the hole he was clearing for it. Once he dug and sunk that cement ring a
full 50cm, then there would be room for another cement ring on top of the
first, and then on top of the second, third, fourth, and so on. To pour the cement rings, we were going
to make steel forms for both the outer and inner circumferences. In order to give the cement rings
strength and keep them together as they sunk lower, we brought six 200cm x 14mm
steel rebar that would stand vertical in between the steel forms, to be encased
in cement. I hope this makes
sense, if not, reread this paragraph because this is my best explanation!

The new technique explained, the well digger sat down on a
rock and scratched his shaved head in dismay. He didn’t believe it would work. He doubted the feasibility of digging inside a 80cm cement
ring, he doubted that the sand would allow the cement rings to sink, and he
doubted that it was worth this much effort. Harry, exhausted by his attempts to encourage, turned to me and
said in the local language, “will it work, can you help me convince him?” I doubted I could do a better job than
Harry at encouraging, but I decided to at least try to answer the well digger’s
doubts. First I did the cultural
necessity and patted his ego by complimenting the work he had done. I admitted that my untrained limbs
could not dig in the dark inside a 80cm cement ring, but that with his
specialized, God-given skill, I was confident he could do it. Then I assured him that the cement ring
would sink as he dug, as long as the steel form released it. In order to ensure the steel form would
release it, he needed to: 1- grease the form, 2- use a spirit level to level
the forms, and 3- make sure the form had a slightly bigger bottom
diameter. The well digger listened
close, and the small group of guys from the village all leaned in to hear the
foreigner that spoke their language in an unusual way. I wasn’t sure if I had communicated
anything sensible, but Harry seemed pleased, and took over by asking the men,
“are you with us?” To the surprise
of both of us, the well digger stood and said, “alright, let’s do it.”

The next 3 hours were spent perfecting the steel forms for
the cement rings. This involved 5
of us taking turns measuring, cutting, pounding, welding, arguing,
second-guessing, and trying again.
Twice we went after more tools and more guys that we thought would be
helpful to include. It was not the
easiest process; I couldn’t convince the well digger to wear eye protection, or
shoes, when he was welding. But by
lunch-time the forms were nearly done, and the well site had become a big
party. Two school-age boys showed
up with bread and kettles, and we all squatted on the ground to eat. Out of the kettle flowed milk tea,
which probably contained more salt than any other ingredient. After we had all drank our bowlfuls of
tea we all jumped back to work, all except the well digger who curled up to a
boulder, rested his head on a pair of shoes, and took a nap.

The forms completed and the well digger awake again, the
afternoon sped along as we lowered the forms to the bottom of the well, and
prepared to pour the first ring.
The challenge of the 35-meter well shaft became more clear to me while
we did this. As the well digger
descended into the hole on a spool of rope, the spool had barely turned and he
was already out of sight. The
spool turned over and over again until he finally reached bottom. Then everyone held their breath and
leaned toward the hole to try to make out what the well digger was yelling from
the bottom. Not to worry, he just
needed a bucket.

By the time everything was perfectly ready for cement to
start being lowered down the well shaft for the first ring, Harry and I needed
to head back to town. The day had
been a success; I left with a real sense that this project was going to
succeed.

Four days later, Harry and I were on the road again, heading
back to check the progress on the well.
Harry had actually returned to check on the first ring the day after it
was poured, and he came back reporting that everything was going well. Now 3 days had passed since either of
us had been there, and the well digger had been on his own. Although we did not know what we would
find when we arrived, the last thing we expected was for the well digger to
emerge from the well wearing only a long shirt, hard hat, and a smile. With complete confidence he told us
that he had found an adequate supply of water, and the well was a success. I was impressed that in 4 days he had
dug another 1.5 meters, sinking 3 cement rings with him as he dug. The new technique had worked!

On that day we began to run a 1” electric pump so that the
digging could continue. The well
digger excitedly thought it was enough to have water up to his chest, but
actually for this project we need to have a resting depth of 150cm water after 6
hours of running an electric pump.
So, he’s still digging, and the stack of cement rings in the bottom of the
well has grown to 5. The electric
pump and control box that will automatically send water from the well to a
reservoir in the village will be installed as soon as the depth of water is
adequate. I’m hoping this will
happen next week, and if all goes well, I’ll post some pictures from the well
for you here. Don’t worry, I’ll
make sure the well digger keeps his pants on for the pictures.